FIFA have dubbed the latest World Cup tournament a success. There’s little doubt why: 3.1 million spectators watched the game and according to the South African Department of Home Affairs, one million foreign visitors entered the country during the World Cup period.

Many have seen the tournament as the proverbial goose that laid the golden egg. It’s true that South Africa saw a period of unprecedented national unity and economic growth, but was it profitable for everyone? The Event asked members of industry how the World Cup affected their day-to-day activities.

We know that Johannesburg underwent a complete transformation, with enhanced infrastructure, improved tourism information services, and youth development, so in many ways, the World Cup was a boost for the city.

Lindiwe Kwele, CEO of Johannesburg Tourism Company, describes the tournament as a coup for Joburg, which took centre stage after holding the opening and closing ceremonies. “While the data still needs to be properly analysed in order to attain accurate figures, there is anecdotal evidence of one million visitors to Joburg during this time – comprising domestic, continental and international guests. In terms of hotel occupancy, the anecdotal percentage ranges between 87-95% during June-July, which is unprecedented, especially for this time of the year,” she says.

Kwele says that as much as Joburg’s hospitality industry benefited from the World Cup in  terms of hotel stays and visitor spend,  the spinoffs have gone way beyond  financial. “This event has managed to unify a nation, instilled civic pride and changed the geopolitical face of Joburg,” she says.

Kievits Kroon in Pretoria was selected as the exclusive base camp for the FIFA referees and their support team for the duration of the Confederations Cup and the World Cup tournament.

Marketing manager Krista North says the estate underwent several changes in the run-up to the World Cup. “Kievits Kroon now boasts 42 additional bedrooms, and we also refurbished many of the existing rooms. We have also upgraded our wireless internet access to cover the entire estate, which was especially welcomed by the referees who wanted to communicate with their families,” she says. Overall, North says the tournament was profitable for the establishment. Now that it’s over, it’s back to business though.

Joey Pather, chief operating officer of the Cape Town Convention Centre (CTICC), says the impact of the World Cup did not greatly affect the business of the CTICC. This was because the centre’s business strategy for 2010 had a two-pronged approach.

“On the one hand CTICC took a decision to operate as business as usual and on the other we made allowances for unique events for the World Cup,” he says. “Through this approach the centre was able to strike a perfect balance between the world cup and our regular meetings and events. During this period the centre successfully hosted live match screenings and soccer partied alongside international conferences like the Global Forum 2010.”

He explains that the major positive was that the event put Cape Town in the global spotlight. “The World Cup was an excellent platform for Cape Town to further position itself as a leading international business and leisure destination. Hosting an event of this stature raises the bar in terms of service delivery and we now boast even more advanced infrastructure, which is a definite drawcard for business tourism.”

96% of foreign visitors interviewed had a positive World Cup experience in Cape Town and said they would be returning.

In terms of business, Pather says he noticed a trend developing among event organisers. “With the World Cup euphoria descending on Cape Town, many event organisers chose to change the date of their events to later in the year as they were concerned that the World Cup would overshadow their event. This was a good decision as it’s extremely difficult for any business to compete with the World Cup,” he says.

But Pather says it’s not all good news. “I think that the negative side was that expectations set out by FIFA were not realised. South Africa expected a larger influx of international visitors and high room occupancies. In addition business came to a standstill as World Cup euphoria descended on Cape Town. Going forward, I think that the challenge for Cape Town would be to sustain and build up on the momentum of the World Cup.”

Keith Burton from professional conference organiser African Agenda says his company had anticipated a slow period during the tournament. “We had no new business as a direct result of the World Cup activities and experienced a downturn in regular business over this period. We had anticipated this and staff worked a skeleton roster so as to be able to enjoy the spirit first hand.”

Burton says the company has taken a long-term view  of the  World Cup. “We felt very strongly that a successfully  staged World Cup would do an enormous amount to mitigate against the bad press South Africa regularly receives; to cure many of afro-pessimism; and to market the destination to the world in a way no other medium would be able to. By all accounts the staging has been successful and we will reap the benefits for years to come, be it in the form of international entities making the decision to stage here in SA or in attendees making the decision to attend and extend their stays.”

Robyn D’Alessandro, marketing manager for Gearhouse South Africa, says the equipment rental company had a very good World Cup. “We were trading to capacity but it was a learning curve for us in terms of the volume of trade we are actually capable of. We managed to service our usual clients as well as the SWC related one-offs like the Closing Ceremony, the FIFA Kick- Off Concert, and corporate brand activation events fairly easily.”

She says the company had been planning toward the World Cup period for a number of years but there were still some challenges that had to be addressed. “The main challenge was that three quarter of the events had been confirmed with extremely short lead times, which made for pressurised load ins. Of course, working around the matches in the stadiums made things  more interesting,” says  D’Alessandro.

Exhibition supplier Scan Display took on quite a few World Cup related jobs for international clients such as adidas, Budweiser and Globex. “As a result, the month of June was far busier than it normally would have been. The exposure and experience we gained is invaluable,” says marketing manager Pippa Walker.

She says the company experienced an influx of jobs, quite a few of which were last minute. “As a result there was a pressure to get things done within a limited amount of time. We had to be resourceful, creative, and as flexible as possible,” says Walker.

She believes that with the good must come the bad. “Some businesses were too greedy; they took on jobs that they were not capable of doing or overpriced themselves and so lost out on jobs. We believe we landed a lot of our contracts by being realistic about our prices. I think the biggest lesson we learned is that we are more first world than third world and have a great deal of potential,” she says.
Sally Fink